


Project: StarBurst

by LoveRoundWorld



Series: The FrostIronStrange area of my Fanfics [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: (About an invading Alien Army), As in brother, Civil War Team Iron Man, Don't touch Tony's things, I don't know. I'll add more later, JARVIS is ALIVE, Login & Tony Friendship, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Loki pranks, M/M, Most of, Not Team Rogers Friendly, Panic Attacks, Protective Loki, Protective Stephen Strange, Protective Tony Stark, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Team Captain America Redemption, The Princess Bride References, The chair, Though mostly not Steve Rogers Friendly, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark gets powers, Tony Stark is sassy, Tony Stark is taken by HYDRA, Tony Stark was right, Tony is Anthony, Tony is afraid of himself, Triad - Freeform, mentions of torture, steve rogers is a hypocrite, teamironman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 02:07:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18863560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveRoundWorld/pseuds/LoveRoundWorld
Summary: Tony Stark almost dies of blood loss and hypothermia in Siberia. He couldn't get the suit open without risking bleeding out too fast. Plus, the Ironman suit is fading in and out of power because of the mostly broken Arc reactor powering it flickering. FRIDAY had sent out an SOS, so he'd thought he would be fine. That was before HYDRA showed up to crash the party and pried him from his dead suit. Before he had FRIDAY self destruct-couldn't let HYDRA get their hands on his tech.Before he was dragged off to be a torture subject until he 'complied'.Like hell he would do that. He's fucking Tony Stark-no one makes him do anything.Until he starts forgetting who is because of the chair.--AKATony needs help, kind of gets rescued but really rescues himself-and still needs some rescuing. Emotionally. Which is where his 'Secret' protector (Which he figured out a while ago who it is, but sure he'll play along) and the other man in the room with good sense in facial hair comes in.





	1. Taken

**Author's Note:**

> So, First chapter. Depending where you are in the world guys, this is coming out Friday. Ish. Maybe. It's past midnight here, so it's Saturday. But it's not my fault. 
> 
> Okay, anyway. Please bare with me. I tried to find a Beta (If you would like to be a dear and help me out, comment please!), but couldn't find one. Hope all of this is making sense. If not, I'll try to answer questions unless it's a question brought up later. 
> 
> I hope that you all enjoy. The first few chapters are going to be mostly HYDRA kidnapping Tony, him being defiant. And the 'rescue' that he also mostly rescues himself (Like usual). 
> 
> Have fun! Let me know in the comments what you all think! (and thanks for those of you who voted before!)

     Tony hasn’t felt this sore since the Ten Rings. And he hasn’t felt this…betrayed, since Obie. He’s been left to die. Without the arch reactor, the Suit won’t open by itself. And Ste-Rogers had busted something that would help him open it manually. And now he’s stuck here. 

     In the cold. The video playing again, and again.... He shakes his head, no. He can’t break down right now. Instead, he attempts to take stock of injuries. See if he can’t do  _ something _ . Even if it’s just to adjust the way he breathes or moves his neck or something. 

     Bruised and broken, chest and Reactor pushed into his chest.  _ It’ll be a while before I fix this _ , he thinks.  _ Of course, that’s assuming I don’t die here first. _ He muses. He knows he’s bleeding. The arch reactor and parts of his chest plate are pushing into his chest. Every breath he takes sends sharp pains through him. He attempts to focus on using his stomach for most of the heave and ho. To avoid that pain.  

     It only works slightly-it's not his natural way of breathing, so he forgets at times. Though, that isn’t the only problem. He’s stuck, unmoving as the night gets colder and colder. In an unpowered suit of metal. Which will eventually just turn him into an Iron Popsicle. Or a really strange Frost Ironman. He thinks about his suit frosting over prettily. But he quickly shakes his head of its wandering thoughts. Not conductive-but understandable as he’s slowly losing heat and blood-causing it to be harder to think. 

     He’s sure that FRIDAY or JARVIS have alerted the others of his recklessness. Probably as soon as he lost power in the suit. When they lost connection to him. He winces, because as much as he’d just seen his own parents killed-they'd watched their father get a royal beat down by the two super soldiers. He was reckless. He should have thought about the kids back home too.  

     Not only that...but as he sits there, warmth seeping out of him...he keeps thinking about Barnes. How haunted he’d looked-even before Tony found out about his parents being killed. Before Tony started to accuse him. And the trapped man feels the guilt and shame creep in. Yeah, it wasn’t Barnes’ fault. He’d been controlled. Made to do terrible things, tortured, mind wiped...What was Tony thinking, even going for just hurting him?  

     Oh, he hadn’t been thinking clearly. No. His heart had been pounding in his chest and ears. Watching his father be killed by someone he used to know. Watching and listening to his mother's gasped final breaths. And the figure on the screen is the same as the one that was standing next to him. And he couldn’t  _ think _ past the images and sounds on the screen.  

     Having S-Rogers know, the entire time. That had not helped either. His feeling of distrust, betrayal...His churning, sick feelings-because, God, he’d blamed his father’s drunk driving but that wasn’t it, it was fucking HYDRA-turned into hurt and fury. He’d wanted to hurt Rogers too.  

     He doesn't feel ashamed about that one.  

     But he hadn’t intended to kill either of them. Somewhere inside his brain-he knew it wasn’t Barnes’ fault. And Ste-damnit, Rogers-had been trying to protect his friend. His real friend. Because Tony obviously wasn’t one. Trying to protect Tony? Nah, it was just too hard to admit. He was afraid that Tony would go hunt his bestie down. Because Rogers didn’t know Tony, after all. The worst he would have done is not being able to be in the same room as the guy. If he’d heard. If-what he thought of as- his friend had told him. Instead of him having to  _ witness it _ .  

     A sudden shiver shakes through him and he cries out in pain as it causes him to tear into his chest area. He tapers off into a moan. He needs to stop thinking about all of that. He needs to start trying  _ something _ to get out of this. And, oh! He notes that it’s suddenly lighter.  

     The reactor must not be  _ completely _ damaged, then. “FRI? J?” He doesn’t try to say full names, what does come out is garbled and difficult.  

     He knows they will be able to hear him. The microphones are in his neck part of the Ironman suit-not the helmet. And because he’s got an earpiece in, he hears them too. “Sir!” He hears at the same time as “Boss!” 

    He lets out a weak chuckle and winces.  

    “Scans show heavy damage, sir.” Poor JARVIS, his voice sounds frayed and Tony knows his boy is hiding his panic. 

     FRIDAY is not as good at it. “He’s bleeding out, and his temperatures are fading fast!” There’s desperation in her voice.  

     Taking a deep bellied breath-only wincing slightly-he speaks. “It’s okay. You guys already have someone coming, right?”  

     “Affirmative.” 

     “Of course, Vision is on his way!” 

     Tony nods. “Okay. For now, most of the blood is being kept in by the suit holding me together” And the reason he’s bleeding in the first place, he doesn’t add. “So how about we put the heaters on, while we can? The reactor might give out any moment. But that doesn’t mean to-tsk-to panic, okay?” 

     He waits for their affirmatives-and already feels some heat coming back into his suit. “There is not anything we can do for your head, Sir.” JARVIS says quietly.  

     Speaking of head, his head hurts from the way it kind of awkwardly dangles here.  

     “It’s what we can do for now.” Tony assures him. And then he sees some movement out of the corner of his eyes. “Well, that was fast.” He says. 

     “Sir?” 

      “They're here already.” 

      “Boss, it’s only Viz coming. And he’s not arrived yet.”  

      Tony’s eyes widen. He looks over, more closely this time. Men in Black. “Uh, anyone else know where I am?” He’d thought maybe S- _ Rogers  _ had come back-realized he was leaving Tony to maybe die. It’s not.  

     “No, Boss.” 

     Shit. He sees them carrying tools. Tools to cut him out of the Ironman suit. “Shit, FRI, J.” He says. He sees some sort of badge flash and his eyes zero in on it. Double shit. “It’s HYDRA. And they’re going to...I don't know. But they are coming with tools to cut me out of the Suit. When I’m out, I need you to activate the self destruct. Okay?” 

     “Sir!” 

     “Boss!” 

     He shakes his head, narrowing his eyes as the men and women come to hover over him now. “Do it, guys.” He says. “Looks like I've got evil company. I always forget the etiquette for Evil Company. I know, I’m a terrible host. What was it again? Hail HYDRA?” He pulls on one of his masks and falls back on his snark. 

     Instead of responding, a woman with orange hair sticking out from under a thick black snow hat gestures at the men holding the tools.  

     They are quick and efficient. And silent. “Jeeze, I know I crashed one of your homes, but you guys could keep up host niceties all the same. I’m bored here, where's all the ‘We will make you, blah, blah’?” He tries again. In some places where they’re applying the fire metal worker, he feels the heat touch his skin.  

     He grits his teeth, and does not let them see his pain. It’s difficult-especially with his world fading in and out. When he feels the cold rush of air that signifies they’ve taken off the suit successfully, he has almost lost the battle because of the searing pain. He was right earlier. The only thing holding him together, had been that suit. And when the bits in his chest ripped out, it’d been painful.  

     They are carrying him on a stretcher now, and the last thing he sees as they take him out into the cold night, is a bright flash of light and everything shaking. He smirks, even as the people holding him up lose their balance and he crashes into the cold hard and wet ground. They wouldn’t be able to steal Ironman Schematics. And he sure as hell isn’t making them weapons.  

     His last thought is that this would probably be a good time for his ‘secret’ protector to show up. But he hasn’t seen any hint of the guy in some months. He’s probably busy. Or lost interest. Honestly, Tony wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter. With how his friends are betraying him and almost killing him left and right. Why not? He lets himself sink into darkness. 

\-- 

      When the Billionaire wakes up, he’s in a cell. It’s bright and clean. And has glass walls for bars. For some reason, this causes his dread to increase. Instead of a dingy old cell that was dirty and had a dirt floor, it was advanced. It had tech. And yeah, he could use said tech. But it also made it harder at the same time. Tony knows how to escape the cells with bars. Or just a door in a room. Right off the bat, he had a plan formulated. 

      But this...This he needs to analyze. And the fact that none of the tech was visibly on the inside made this even harder. Sure, there could be a wiring area he could get too. But looking around, he spots many cameras. Leaving no open blind spot.  

      He gets up and winces, suddenly reminded of his injuries. Looking down he sees the bandages and knows that they’ve been sewn shut and cleaned. They needed him for something. Information? Tech? He’s not going to give it to them.  “The prince and the count always insist on everyone being healthy, before they’re broken.” And doesn’t that just send a shiver down his spine, despite him trying to be snarky to cheer himself up. Right. Princess Bride quote not working, he just sits and analyzes and waits. 

     After all, Tony can’t begin to plan properly until he knows exactly what he’s dealing with. Which includes what they want from him.  

\-- 

     The first time he sees them, he is dragged out. He quips about him following if they just asked pretty please, and they yank him forward. Coincidentally opening his wounds. The woman Doctor-the woman with red hair from before and seems to be in charge-was not pleased by this. And actually shot one of them. Dead.  

     He blinks quickly, shocked but unsurprised, really.  _ HYDRA  _ after all. “Well, I didn’t know you cared so much, Dr. Hanabella!” He quips. “Next time, I’ll remember to bring the flowers.” 

     But then she’s turned on him and her displeased scowl turns into a thin smirk. “Oh, how I cannot wait to see how long you last.” She says ominously. And he knows nothing good will come from that sadistic smirk. 

     Instead of letting his unease show, he shrugs. “Got about the same expiration date as most other people. I say most, because there are some pretty neat Mutants out there that don’t seem to have one.” 

     She narrows her eyes and gestures with her hand. And suddenly, he’s being strapped to the chair in front of him. A machine comes down over his eyes. His heart pounds in fear. There’s a whirring noise, and suddenly, he’s overtaken with pain. Wracking through every inch and nerve of his body. But not really, he knows. He knows that it’s because she’s tapped into his receptors. And his brain thinks his whole body is in pain. He seizes up. Struggling to pay attention past the pain. 

     But he doesn’t hear anything. The torture seems to last for an eternity and he tries not to lose himself in it. But soon, he feels like he may pass out. But that his brain is too stimulated that it cannot. And then, suddenly-after what feels like hours to him-he realizes that the machine is no longer on. It hasn’t been for a few minutes. But his body is spasming from the constant clenching of his muscles.  

     “How should we proceed?” A man’s voice, he thinks. 

     Tony hears them, from beneath all the pain and almost-unconsciousness. Their voices warble in and out ominously. “We don’t have time to train him first, and then see if he has strength enough to endure the procedure. We need his mind as the Mechanic, but we also need a new…type of Winter Soldier, now that they’ve killed the rest of ours.” His heart pounds as he tries to move, tries to get away. “We will do both simultaneously. The pain from The Procedure can only help Train him to our will.”  

     They want to turn him into a puppet. And they aren’t using normal techniques. They are going into his  _ brain _ . His fear only racks up until he can’t breathe. 

     He’s unconscious once more. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello! I'm back! Sorry it has taken so long! I'd like to say thanks to CollinAnthonyStark for being my beta! You're very helpful! :D  
> Loki: Yes, he's burdened with glorious purpose. Though, perhaps not so glorious having to deal with you...  
> Me: Pouts. Why do you have to be this way, Loki? (Haha)

     HYDRA thinks that he is weak. Infamous playboy Tony Stark would bend to them.  He would _comply_. After all, he couldn’t have had much torture training. Never mind that he went through the Ten Rings, this was different. Which, yeah. He agrees that this is different. Ten Rings were easy to fool. Tony figured out early on that HYDRA wasn’t. They didn’t have him trying to build things for him. Not at first. They tortured first. For days, the only thing he’s taken out of his cell for, is to be tortured. To have his mind scrambled until he can’t walk straight-or he passes out. The effects-if he doesn’t pass out-making him feel like he’s too drunk to walk, with a side effect of his brain pounding in his ears and feeling like it’s being stabbed over and over again.  

     They think that he is weak. That he’ll easily bend to their will. But...well, he did live with spies for a while. His father was Howard Stark (He can’t think on him right now, though. He can’t remember how his Father begged for his Mother’s life as it was choked out of her and how-just  _ no) _ . The pain is immense. It feels like it will never end-it doesn’t ever end. But he’s Anthony Edward Stark. He can play the long game. 

     At the end of each session in the chair-and occasionally his torture sessions to the rest of his body-he pretends to bend to them just  _ a little bit more _ . It can’t be too sudden; they won’t believe him. He has to suffer for them to believe that he’s breaking. But they think he is too weak for anything else.  He’s used to pretending to bend to others wills by now. As normal, people’s underestimating him will work in his favor. It will be their downfall. 

     Tony doesn’t know how long he’s been here. Unlike with the Ten Rings, he isn’t hopeful that Rhodey will come swinging in to his rescue. He relies on himself more than anyone now-a-days. He knows that his friends-what’s  _ left _ of them-are out there, searching and worrying. And it’s his job to get home. To get home, and see the look of relief on Pepper’s face as she tries not to cry, Happy’s face pinched up, Rhodes swoop him into a hug, and his bots…god he misses them all.  

     He also feels a foreign power build up in him. It’s…well, it just feels like raw, raging power. And it almost feels as if he collects it from his surroundings. And he feels better and worse than he’s felt in years. Worse because of all the mind-fuckery and pain. Better because…he feels spry, lean, his chest doesn’t hurt. It’s an odd sensation.  

     And he knows this is the Procedure they talk about. It scares him. Is he turning into a super-soldier? He knows he’s still  _ him _ . He still has his defiance. Still has his tricks. But they are turning him into  _ something.  _ The power that’s beneath his skin feels like the Sun except it doesn’t burn him. 

     He’s been awake for some time now, contemplating this alone in his cell. He knows from experience that they will come for him soon. It makes something inside of him shiver. He always pulls up memories to keep him going. Memories of people and things he needs to survive for, the happy ones. 

     He recalls a memory of Pepper’s laughing face-one that is connected to happiness in his chest. That one should do...He pulls the memory up front, plays it. They’d been at an expo. He’d walked up to her to complain about fancy parties not being his scene and try to get away...and then it skips directly to her laughing.  

     Tony pauses. What? 

     He plays it over again. But for the life of him...he doesn’t actually remember saying whatever it is that made her laugh. He doesn’t remember any of the conversation. Panic builds inside of him. He has perfect recall. He can’t not remember! This has never happened to him before. And he starts to wonder: is this the only thing? 

     So he frantically goes through all of his memories. It isn’t.  

     The panic is affecting his breathing now. And it only gets worse when he realizes that he doesn’t remember Pepper’s real name. Or Rhodey’s first. He doesn’t remember how he met either of them... 

     When they come for him, he’s still in the middle of a panic attack.  

     Because, this. This right here was not acceptable. They could torture him. They could fucking starve him. Threaten him. Taunt him...but taking away his friends, even in memory? It sends chills down his spine. And some of this must be coming out of his mouth in the midst of his panic attack, because when he comes back down some, he hears a woman’s voice.  

     He zero’s in on it. “-alright, Tony.” She’s whispering. He opens his eyes to see that it is one of the doctors. The one that sometimes sneaks him extra food. “You can’t let them break you.” 

     “But I’m forgetting them...” he lets out a low, pained whine. It’s a testament to how far his panic had driven him, to reveal this to a torturer of his. Even the kindest among them. 

     “Then put all of it inside a locked box.” She says firmly. “Whenever we come for you.  Put it down deep. Offer up meaningless memories. Anything that doesn’t matter to who you are.” 

     It calms something inside of him. He doesn’t understand why the woman is helping him. Doesn’t understand why she is soothing him. But she’s been the only source of any kind of kindness here. He thinks that if- _ when- _ he escapes, this one, he won’t kill. On principal of this small kindness alone.  

     “I must go now. The camera has been off too long.” She mutters. And then she is gone. 

     He gathers his wits as much as possible around him. Lock away the important memories. He can do that. And he’s got plenty of mundane-unimportant, memories to offer up. Like whenever Justin Hammer talks. He starts working on structuring his mind to hopefully hold up against HYDRA, whilst also trying to figure out why the woman was working with HYDRA, if she’s helping him. 

     At the same time, he doesn’t want to know. Because if they really do succeed in brainwashing him, they might ask him about it. He curls into a ball-thankful that for some reason, they had decided to skip his torture today. Probably because him in panic mode was probably not the best way to start a torture day. Maybe that’s why the woman calmed him down. Still, giving him advice on how to remain him when they want to brainwash him is suspicious.  

- 

**With Team Ironman**

     Rhodes is pissed. Worried and Pissed. His Best Friend was gone. Again. Taken by some men and women in all black. Tony had been talking in riddles. Or rather, as JARVIS had put it,  _ I think Sir thought he was saying all the words. But a few were missing now and again _ . So, they have no idea who it was. But that Tony probably had recognized. Because he’d ordered FRIDAY and JARVIS to destroy the suit as soon as they got him out of it. And send back up. But that isn’t the only reason Rhodes is pissed.  

     No, Viz had gotten there too late to even see the men take off-no doubt they had come in jets or something similar. But he’d seen everything else. He’d gone in the way FRIDAY had said Tony had gone in. To retrace their steps and get to where Tony last was. And he’d seen that damned video. Vision had taken the video with, after discovering that Tony wasn’t there. And he’d shown Rhodey, when Rhodey was awake in the hospital, wondering where the hell his best friend was.  

      And he can only imagine what Tony had seen. (He doesn’t have to, because shortly after Vision’s trip to Siberia, FRIDAY had shown him the recorded interaction. He saw and heard Tony ask Rogers if he’d known. He’d seen the betrayal. Knew that Tony was more mad at Rogers than the other man. Because he attacked Rogers harder. And if he’d wanted Barnes dead, he’d be just that.).  

     So, he was even more pissed at Rogers. Because that shit don’t fly with him. Tony has been his little brother since MIT. And no one hurts him like that. And if they do, they don’t get away with it. But he has no time to look for Rogers. He has to find Tony.  

     He had reported to the UN what had happened. Edited, of course. He’d reported that Tony had gotten a lead on Rogers and then he’d gone MIA. That he’d gone there to only check things out. That he was going to report back before attacking. (He doesn’t think it’s that far of a stretch, being that Tony  _ hadn’t _ gone there to attack Rogers and Barns. Even if he hadn’t gone to spy and report back). Told (and showed) the last part of the fight with Rogers, which FRIDAY edited out some bits to up the probability of damaged footage, and then Tony’s orders to self-destruct the suit when he was out because he couldn’t have these people getting that tech. The last image being of an unconscious Tony being dragged away by men in white Parka’s. Leaving a trail of blood caused by Rogers and Barns.  

     Rhodes has connections. And so, he’d gotten himself and Vision on a team to search and rescue Tony. A week after Tony had gone missing, Rhodes had nearly cried when FRIDAY had insisted that both Pepper and he come downstairs. Because, apparently while Tony had been preoccupied with trying to stop Zemo and some super-soldiers, he’d also come up with a plan to get Ross Fired and imprisoned for the type of imprisonment he’d done to the Rogues and everything else…he’d found time to draw up blueprints and make some braces for Rhodes.  

     They have military personnel searching for the Captain-and later, his escaped team. But it’s been months. And there still hasn’t been any sign of his brother.  

     He’s come back to the Tower for the day after another long search through another country that turned up nothing. Rhodes is crashing on the guest bed in Tony’s penthouse. (The one that housed and fed The Rouges, that Tony had offered up with nothing in exchange to those ungrateful B-) 

     “Lt. Rhodey-bear?” Rhodes huffs in fondness at Tony’s programmed named for him.  

     “Yeah, FRIDAY?” 

     There’s a long moment of silence before the voice speaks up again. “You don’t think…Will we see Boss again?” She asks, and she sounds so downtrodden.  

     Rhodes lets out a sigh, throwing an arm over his face. “One day, yeah. I’m sure we’ll find him. We have to. And if we don’t, he’ll definitely bust out.” He says, trying to sound more confident than he is. It’s gotten to the point that it’s just on the other side of too long. It’s been a few weeks longer than Tony’s last kidnapping. He can only hope. And pray. And try to comfort Tony’s children. 

     “If you say so.” She doesn’t sound confident either.  


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeey, been a long time... Sorry about the slow updates, but you know. Life happens. Thank you so much for your comments! I've been having a bit of a rough patch, and comments always help! :3
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter! I'll try to update more regularly, but things are still rather hectic.

With Team Cap: 

 

Scott Lang is a pretty laid-back kind of guy. While he’d never been a wanted Fugitive before, he has been labeled as a criminal. It isn’t that that bothers him. He misses his kid and he misses Hope and even Hank. He’s actually been talking with King T’Challa about turning himself over-making up a cover story for where he’s been. 

For now, he’s just waiting. Observing-he’s always been an observant kind of guy. Patterns in people and things are like second nature to him. And he notices that the rest aren’t exactly comfortable with their situations. But they all believe in the Captain too much to get too worked up about it. 

Clint-the only one with kids of his own like Scott-is the most noticeably angry one. He rants about Stark all the time. The two most quiet in the area of Tony Stark are Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. Wanda is the second most vocal (Mostly just grumbling like a teenager) in raging against the Billionaire. And then there’s Captain-who nods along and shrugs. 

Scott could hardly care what they thought about Stark-Hank had said never to trust a Stark, after all. And he didn’t like the guy so much either (Although he does recognize that he chose to be on the other side of the law here-and he kind of blames Rogers a bit, but that guys an American Hero, he had to be right, right?). 

But things get interesting when he starts to note the tension in Barnes whenever Stark is brought up. And he always walks out of the room. Rogers close behind. Then there’s when the red head he swore was on Team Ironman shows up. The first time that she hears Bow and Arrows hissing and ranting about Stark, she’d hauled him out of the room-by the ear. Scott hadn’t heard Clint growling about Stark since. 

Scott is bored and curious, so he starts following the two spies to try to gain insight on what shut up Starks most vocal protestor here. So…well, he does still have his suit, doesn’t he? 

“I don’t like it, Clint. Steve is hiding something.” 

“Yeah, I know. Now that…you’ve filled me in on what Tony did for us-locking up Ross and trying to get us out of the Raft…I’ve noticed Rogers getting all twitchy whenever Tony is brought up.” 

“It isn’t just him, Clint. Barnes-have you seen how his shoulders bunch up guiltily and he storms out?” Scott watches from his place on the roof as the Red head cants her hip to the side, a scowl on her face. “Something is up. And those two know about it.” 

“Wilson is always eyeing the two of them. Like he has a question.” Clint replies, leaning against the wall. “Maybe we should ask him?” 

“Maybe. But I don’t see anything of the guilt those two have. I don’t think he knows everything. And I don’t think Rogers will share whatever it is.” 

Scott hums to himself as he leaves the hall and decides that this mystery would help keep him entertained for his last week here. He’ll follow Barnes and Rogers next time. 

And he overhears Cap and Bucky in hushed tones. Bucky talking about how Stark had every right to try to kill him. And then Scott hears how-apparently-Stark had gone to help, but then was shown a video of Barnes killing his parents. And freaked out. And then Captain America and Barnes beat him up and left him there. Captain America also only seems interested in placating Barnes that everything is okay. That they didn’t do anything wrong. Barnes disagrees and seems to be frustrated with Rogers. 

Scott is kind of horrified. He tells Nat everything. And asks if she thinks Stark really tried to kill the two. She gets a dark look, jaw ticking dangerously. Pulls up pics and videos of Ironman kicking ass without even lifting his gauntlets. “I’ll take that as a no...” He murmurs to himself, because Nat’s already gone. Probably to inform the others. Or at least the grumpy Robin hood guy. 

Not for the first time, Scott wonders if he made the right choice, just going when The Captain called on him. Just because it’s Captain America-doesn't mean he’s always right. Prym said never trust a Stark...and maybe that’s true. But from how Stark hadn’t even really tried to kill Rogers and Barnes when he’d been ‘beaten up’ as Barnes put it, and left to die... After seeing his mom and dad die? Scott Lang thinks maybe he also should reevaluate what he thinks about the Stark guy. 

He sighs, thinking of his daughter. Wishing he’d stayed behind. God, Hope is probably going to hate him for making Antman turn into a Fugitive. The man sinks lower into his seats. To distract himself, he scrolls through recent news in America. And finds...Oh. Shit. 

He rushes after Natasha, phone screen lite up on the title: “Tony Stark: Missing.” This wasn’t good. But maybe, Natasha may know a way to get the info of where Stark was last seen to the right authorities, without those same authorities coming and throwing them into prison. 

Even if she doesn’t know, it wouldn’t be right to not speak up about it. He could be dying. Or dead. Scott shivers to think about that. It’s probably the most likely-after all-it's been a few months. Either that, or he managed to get home, and is just hiding from the media eye. Or...or maybe he was kidnapped... If they can’t speak up, he’s going home soon. He’ll tell people then, what he knows. He won’t bring where the other ex-avengers are hiding (Part of the deal with T’Challa for helping him get back home), but he can stress that he thinks Rogers is responsible for whatever happened to Stark. 

Nat is not pleased. At all. He watches as her face turns cold-and Clint beside her has a large glare on his face. “I think it’s time we had a chat with Steve.” He says. 

Nat shakes her head. “No.” She tosses Scott his phone back. He fumbles for a minute before finally catching it. When Clint gives her this ‘what the fuck?’ look, she raises a brow. “We know what he’s done. He doesn’t deserve more attention than that, for now. For now, our first priority is getting where Tony disappeared to-on the off-chance FRIDAY or JARVIS doesn’t know and hasn’t already reported it-to Rhodes. Second order of business: find all the info we can, on Tony. We have a teammate to find. After that...well...the Captain won’t know what hit him.” She sneers the name, even as her face is still emotionless and cold. 

Scott shivers. He agrees, but spy/assassins are scary. He doesn’t-wisely-bring up the real possibility that Tony Stark might already be dead. Although, when he thinks about it, JARVIS and FRIDAY are Starks AI’s, who should know where he was. So, if they brought someone to help him that leaves the two theories. Hiding, or kidnapped. 

 

And then: X-MEN (Plus Magneto...) 

Charles Xavier doesn’t know what his opinion on the Accords is, quite yet. On one hand, he can understand the need for amnesty. Which the Accords is not quite offering. Yes, just because the Secret identities are not required to be known by the Public, doesn’t mean that it won’t be. There are government leaks and spies, after all. He doesn’t quite trust the government to keep that to themselves whether they want to or not. 

But on the other, he agrees with a need for Superhero's to take responsibility for what they do. He strives to teach his children and the X-Men that responsibility. They are there-when they can be, and police aren't trying to arrest them-to help with clean up and rescue after fights. Sometimes, even if they are just in civilian clothes and pretending to be a part of the mess of civilians. 

And that countries should have an option of whether they want the Hero’s to be there for certain kinds of threats. After all, they do have to pay for whatever relief and mess pops up after a Super Fight. He also understands that part of this has to do with the Avengers (And other groups of Super’s) that have had high casualty rates. 

Charles understands that casualties are not completely avoidable. But some of the fights he’s seen the Avengers in…they aren’t focused on saving the civilians, as much as they are on eliminating the threat. The Hulk-when he was still around-he could understand (At least from his understanding of the Large Green alter ego, he had practically no control, which is why they hardly ever implement him). But Banner also stayed behind after such incidents and helped with medical relief. Even when he had not been part of the plan. 

There had been a few times that Charles had seen that one of the other Avengers could help a Civilian or land a good blow to a foe. And almost all of them would choose the Foe. Iron Man, however…Ironman always chose the Civilian. (Well, sometimes both, he’d seen the man swoop down, and shield a civilian while his suit fired a shot at the villain). And Charles had been there for an incident once. And he’d seen the resulting chastisement from the man’s team. 

Charles had been out in the city for a museum visit and was now stuck inside a coffee shop because of the rubble stacked up outside it. The City had been being attacked by Doom Bots again. Not much that the man could do-he can’t mind control Bots, after all-Charles had simply rolled up to the window and told everyone else to hide behind the counter as he watched the front and someone else watched the back. 

And a Bot had flown towards the window. He’d been keeping up with what was happening by reading projected thoughts (Concentrated thoughts are louder, and therefore when most are in battle and concentrating on what they need to do, Charles can hear their thoughts without intruding their mind). Captain America had set out a plan, and everyone was following it. 

He didn’t hear Ironman’s thoughts change from the plan. Because the man didn’t need to think about it, he assumed. One moment, Charles was going to wheel back, and the next the robot had been tackled by Ironman, who made quick work of it. He hovered nearby the window, flipping the faceplate up. He has a quirked brow and a smirk. “Maybe stay away from the windows Hot Wheels.” He said. But All Charles can really heard was the ‘thank god I got here in time. They are safe’ which is interrupted by a spike of anger he felt coming from Rogers. 

He didn’t have to read the man’s thoughts, because the Captain jogged up. “Ironman, you have to stay in formation. You could have taken out the one controlling them by now!” 

He watched as the billionaire rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah Capsicle. I’m on it.” And flipped his faceplate down and took off. 

Charles then watched, immensely unimpressed, as the Captain turned a warm smile to him. “Sorry about him.” He said, before taking off to get back into formation. 

Over the next few months, Charles was sure to watch each Avenger fight. And in every one of them, he noted a moment where Ironman will save or deviate from the plan. And either in that instant or after the battle, the captain would approach. And judging by his posture, it was to scold. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

He’s not saying the others don’t save as many as they can either. No, he knows that if it’s possible to both take down the Foe and save a civilian, they do. Sometimes on the way to the foe. But most times, unless it’s a great amount of Civilian’s, the other’s decided to take down the bigger evil. They also tried to get most civilians out of the way before the fighting got too intense. 

But Saving Civilians wasn’t usually the priority for them. Taking the bad guy down was. Which is part of the problem. And then a sort of Civil war had happened, and the Avengers were split. A lot of his students referred to the sides as #TeamIronman and #TeamCaptain America. But Charles knew that it was really Team Accords and Team Captain America. Because Tony Stark was listening to 117 countries, he was taking the side of the people, again along with the Vision and War Machine. 

And now no one has heard from Tony Stark in a very long time. Months and months. Charles had been attending Accords meetings-things aren’t finalized yet, politics-and at one such one, he’d been let in-by a stray thought-that Tony Stark had been kidnapped after being beaten half to death by his former friend and ally and left to die in a Siberian Bunker. 

He’d frowned heavily about it. 

“Thinking of your Iron Savior, Charles?” The voice of his lover and former enemy murmurs tiredly. Charles breaks out of his thought process and turns his chair around to see Erik stumble in from the bed area on the plane. 

“Him and the Accords.” Charles says with a sigh, not bothering to tease his lover or snort over the nickname the Ironman had gotten after saving Charles Xavier. 

Magneto nods, coming to sit on a chair beside Charles’ wheelchair. “Any luck on the cursory thoughts?” He asks. 

They’d been flying around the world, hoping that Charles would pick up stray thoughts about someone thinking about Tony Stark. “No.” He says, sighing heavily. “I’ve only caught worried ones about him. Or Curious ones. Some angry ones. But none that we need.” 

He relaxes a little when Erik’s hand comes up to cup the back of his neck. “You will find him, Charles.” He says. 

Charles leans into the touch and closes his eyes. “Thought you didn’t like baselines.” He teases, still searching mentally. He wishes Cerebro was more suited to finding individual names, or that he was more familiar with Tony's mind to single him out. Finding groups of Mutants among the Baselines was easier than finding one individual that he had not really acquainted his mind to yet. Or finding mentions of Stark. There are many voices thinking about Stark right now, and it was too overwhelming to shift through. Smaller portions like this was more ideal. 

“Most baselines, yes. But Stark is…unique.” He says. 

Charles opens his blue eyes to meet the blue of Erik’s. “How so?” 

“He’s been advocating Mutant rights for a long time. The first time I saw an interview about it, it had been his father and him. Howard Stark had been firmly against it-despite how hypocritical that had been, what with his Super Soldier days-and had looked directly at the younger Stark, expectantly.” He says. 

Charles remembers this. “Ah, yes. And the young boy had looked away and stated that we were human’s too, just with an extra mutated gene. That it was stupid to treat us differently. When the interviewer asked about when Mutant’s used their powers to do things, he’d rolled his eyes.” 

“And said that it’s just like when a specially trained Sniper or a martial artist uses their talents against someone. And that he didn’t see anyone rounding up all the veterans and martial artists and trying to restrict them-past PTSD incidents that were individual as opposed to a whole group. Yes, I had never seen a non-Mutant put it so blatantly-and never a child. His father had looked angered.” 

Erik’s eyes cloud over in a bit of irritation and anger here. “And yet, even after that, Stark Jr. did not change his stance on the issue of how Mutants were treated.” He says. “And I doubt his Father asked kindly.” 

Charles nods. “Quite. Not to mention, Stark Industries has a strict policy now that allows Mutants, Trans, gay, lesbian…for anyone to be hired. And a zero tolerance for intolerance.” Charles adds. “He is quite open mi-Wait.” He stops, overhearing something. He catches an image of Tony Stark, strapped to a chair, screaming. A thought of something called Project Star Burst and The Mechanic. And Hydra. 

“Here.” He says, and Magneto is up and informing the Pilot to land. “Call some of the others.” He adds. “Have Nightcrawler bring them. We’ll need some reinforcement.” He states slowly, careful not to lose his grasp on the mind. 

He needn’t have worried about needing back up.


End file.
